Sangram Dahiya, Amanpreet Singh shoot India to best medal haul at World Cup

Sangram Dahiya and Amanpreet Singh won a silver and a bronze each as hosts India enjoyed a fruitful day in the office on Day Four of competition in the ISSF World Cup Final here yesterday.

Double trap exponent Sangram clinched his first senior medal in International Shooting Sport Federation tournament after years of toil, while Amanpreet bagged a well-deserved bronze after scoring 202.2 in the men's 50m pistol event.

India shooter Sangram Dahiya (left) bagged a silver in double trap

Both shooters were taking part in the prestigious event for the first time. "I'm really happy as the hard training over the past three weeks has paid off," Sangram said after his effort.

Thanks to the two marksman's medals and the gold in mixed 10m air pistol event by Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu on the opening day, India recorded their best showing in the year-ending annual shooting showpiece, where only the year's top shooters compete.

Shooting alongside Amanpreet, the fancied Jitu, though, failed to impress and was the first to be eliminated at seventh place with a score of 123.2. Both had cleared the qualification hurdle without much fuss.

Amanpreet Singh clinched bronze in the men's 50m pistol

In the double trap final at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Ranges, Sangram shot 76 out of 80 targets, three behind gold medallist Hu Binyuan (79) of China. Italy's Gasparani Davi (56) took the bronze.

India's world number one double trap shooter Ankur Mittal, who qualified for the six-man final in second position with a score of 139, finished fourth in the final. He had to leave after managing 45 out of 50 shots.

Amanpreet finished behind gold medallist Damir Mikec of Serbia and silver winner Oleh Omelchuk of Ukraine. Damir shot 229.3 and the Ukrainian Omelchuk finished with a score of 228 in a thrilling round for the top prize.